The Padres have agreed to a major league contract with right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney, Jon Heyman reports on Twitter. Rodney and the Friars had been said to be nearing agreement in recent days.
The deal includes a $2MM guarantee for the Octagon Sports client, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). He’ll receive a $1.6MM base salary, with a floating-value club option that comes with a $400K buyout.
The deal includes a complicated set of provisions for incentives and the option year, according to Lin (Twitter links). Rodney can earn $5MM annually in incentives. And the 2017 option price tag will be $2MM plus whatever incentive value Rodney reaches in 2016. For instance, if Rodney were to hit all incentives in the coming season, the option value would be $7MM (and his maximum earnings for 2017 would be $12MM, because that year’s incentives could still be reached as well).
Rodney, who’ll join San Diego for his age-39 campaign, seems in line for a chance at taking the save opportunities for the club. After dealing away quality arms in Craig Kimbrel and Joaquin Benoit, and watching Shawn Kelley depart via free agency, there’s a ton of uncertainty in the Padres’ pen.
The talented-but-unpredictable Rodney probably isn’t best characterized as a stabilizing presence, but he’ll certainly infuse some punch into the late-inning mix. If nothing else, he’s still delivering a blazing mid-90s fastball despite his age.
It’s hard to know what to expect out of the man with the big right arm and the tilted brim. He had one of the most dominating seasons in recent memory back in 2012; followed that up with two more strong overall campaigns (though he occasionally left fans on edge with his escape feats); and then imploded early last year in Seattle.
Certainly, 2015 presents two possible versions of Rodney at this stage of his career. With the Mariners, he put up 50 2/3 frames of 5.68 ERA pitching. A declining swinging strike rate (just 9.6% last year) left him with a relatively meager 7.6 K/9 to go with 4.4 BB/9 for the M’s. But he turned it on after joining the Cubs late in the year. In twelve innings, he allowed just one earned run while striking out 15 batters and issuing only four free passes. And it bears noting, too, that Rodney still generates groundballs on about half of the balls put in play against him.
MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez first reported on the option and incentives (Twitter links).
what about Cespedes?
I’m sorry for every padre fan
didn’t pitch bad for the Cubs in the second half
I didn’t pay close attention to him as a cub, his stats looked good, but so did his stats as the first year as a mariner, the problem is that they don’t keep count of every fan that had a heart attack while watching him pitch
15 innings does not a half make. He was a Sept 1 acquisition.
Truer words are rarely spoken. His imaginary arrows are better than his accuracy and 2m is 2-3x more than he’s worth. Hopefully, the incentive money is tied into games closed and they figure out quickly how awful he is now.to at least save the extra 5m.
His lack of moment in his left lag while moving towards home-plate I think is his cause of inconsistently.
Still remember a few years ago when Longoria got mad when Rodney kept doing the imaginary arrows after a win and did one himself to mock him.. Was pretty funny.
So are we.
Washed up has been
He’s Still probably richer than you are
What does that have to do w/ his comment
It appears all you do is talk sh it on other posters
You must see the future to know that’s all these players you bash are going to have awful seasons, what’s your secret!?!?
The upside for Padres fans is that there won’t be many opportunities to see this clown close a game.
This is true. At least it’s only a 1 year deal with an option for 2017.
cheap arm. teams are always looking for RP. if he does any good (ha) flip him to another team.
Reminds me of when the Mets signed Valverde two years ago
You reminded me. Ex Tigers Valverde, Rodney, Benoit, Grilli, Albuquerque, Nathan, Soria, Feliz, Furbush, Smyly and Coke. That’s a lot of firepower and no results. Inconsistency kills.
Benoit, Grilli, Soria, and Nathan can’t be faulted for poorly organized bullpens and are have been some of the best relievers in baseball. No idea what you’re trying to say.
I’m saying the Tigers had some really talented arms in the pen over the years but the bullpen still killed their world series chances.
All of them pitched very well for the Tigers at times but at critical times inconsistency and injury kept them from having a great pen in the postseason.
2 Mill isn’t much, so whether he works or not.. won’t break the bank. Has potential upside and trade value though depending how he pitches.
The fact that this is a cheap deal makes it a little easier to swallow.
Maybe they figure they can throw this guy out there every now and then to put on some entertainment since the rest of the team isn’t going to be too entertaining.
I still can’t understand why teams keep giving Rodney a chance. He’s an enigma. Very unpredictable, and most of the time horrible.
talking about how bad rodney is has kinda taken on a life of its own. you wonder how much of it is because of his actual performance and how much is just the hat, the arrow, etc.
aren’t a lot of relievers kind of volatile, performance-wise? he still throws 95 with a wicked changeup. some talk that he was tipping pitches with the mariners last year, looked good with the cubs. he put up pretty much the best season by any reliever ever not that long ago. and he’s cheap. but no, ok, it’s a bad deal because he wears his hat funny. that’s cool
I think you have a point. Most people who have a problem with Rodney probably do so because of his “style.” I dislike him (as a competitor, not as a person. I’ve never met him.) because he rocked as a pitcher, then came to the team I root for only to blow a bunch of leads, then went on to kill it again for a couple of other teams. Though his involvement in games is typically entertaining because I’ve always enjoyed joining in with the boo’s when he’s in there.
I have to admit his flashy style does influence my perception of him. Doesn’t really affect how i see how he performs on the mound though. I wasn’t fan of his antics when he was great but definitely wouldn’t be a fan of them when he’s less than great. Point being if you’re going to be a clown you better be nearly untouchable.
he *does* have a real problem with walks, of course, which makes him a Scary Closer as opposed to a dominant one. he managed to lock down the walks that one brilliant year with the rays; ever since then they’ve crept back in but not AS bad as it was before, to the point where he’s been able to make up for the WHIP with Ks and be effective overall.
i don’t get why his festivities are such a problem, though. i think it’s fun.
Mark “the Byrd” Frydrych’s antics were not scrutinized as heavily. Neither were Bill “The Spaceman” antics. How about Luis Tiant? Is it really because he feigns shooting an arrow? He’s not directing at any player. His team mates seem to enjoy standing with him? He’s not showing anybody up. What’s the problem?
and i don’t see how anybody can even attempt to deny that the plantain thing was funny
I don’t have a problem with his antics, heck, I’m kind of looking forward to watching his theatrics in person this upcoming season.
It’s his actual performance on the mound that is concerning. Still, maybe he can find some of his old form and be a decent closer.
Come on Man…..looked good with the Cubs….
Mop up duty in no pressure situations.
This Dude has worn out his welcome.
One request for the Padres. Will you please give him a baseball cap custom made in a manner that has the bill of the cap already slightly off center? I grow tired of watching Rodney and Cueto adjust their cap to the side prior to every pitch.
probably mess up his command
Its already messed up
If you look close enough, it’s actually because his eyes are lined up closer to the right side of his face. To him his hat probably looks like it’s on perfectly straight.
When Rodney was with Seattle even in his first year where he had a lot of saves he would come in and give up a leadoff double then walk somebody then get lucky and get a double play and maybe strike someone out but he would always give up a run or 2. last season he was atrocious he had zero command zero control and zero confidence and it was very obvious with the way he presented himself on the mound. every single Seattle Mariners fan hated Fernando Rodney. I was in a bar watching a baseball game when I heard the news that Fernando Rodney had finally been traded and everybody in the bar stood up and started high fiving each other. good luck
Rodney continues to get contracts because of his other-worldly 2012. That is looking more and more like an EXTREME outlier, but throwing $2M at the guy at the shadow of a chance he comes close to that level again seems like a decent bet in today’s MLB. Good signing by the Pads. He will be flipped to a contender at the deadline (again) for some real assets or he will fail miserably and stop pitching. It is likely he is, at best, a 0.5 WAR RP but if he’s tracking better than that in June he’ll get trade attention (or actually help the team he’s on too if you’re a Pads fan).
Given what 0.5WAR RPs are getting on the open market, a $2M guarantee is a pretty reasonable hedge bet.
He pitched ok for the Cubs last year but every time he came into the game I tightened up. He felt like a ticking time bomb.
Move makes no sense for the long term future.. What? Best case scenario he does well and we can flip him at the deadline for 2 decent prospects at best? Umm okay if that’s the front office m.o. then fine but I think the Phillies showed the blueprint this offseason on how it done. We could have developed Maurer into a lights out closer like Philly did with Giles and you want to talk about a return? They got 4 A+ prospects from the Astros in exchange for 1 year of a proven closer. I don’t know why we didn’t try to follow that plan but instead cross our fingers on Rodney, I haven’t been as hard on Preller as most Padre fans about some of his decisions but this one definitely had me scratching my head.
Giving Maurer a chance to be a starter is a much better use of his ability. If that doesn’t work, then they move him back to the pen and position him to start closing by May.
True, just throwing Maurer’s name out there because it’s the best of the bunch, but do you agree that there was probably a handful of other options that made sense?
Rodney’s tilted hat. It’s a tribute to his father. He would work the fields and so his father would tilt the hat in the direction of the sun to keep it out of his eyes.
I think this has created undue perceptions about the guy. I admit, before I read about this I didn’t like it either but knowing this its tough to fault the guy. I would post the link bit if I do that, this post will need moderating and take a week publish
While admitting I have not seen Mauer pitch lately, when you look at his final numbers from last year, they do not say “closer”. Most teams like a high strikeout guy in that position. Occasionally a Jim Johnson, or a Doug Jones type gets a closer job, but that is rare. I am just saying that this may be the reason for a Rodney signing – they are hedging their bets.